# Free (Iggy Pop album)
**Free** is the eighteenth solo studio album by the American rock musician [Iggy Pop](https://www.edgepedia.org/iggy-pop) (James Osterberg, Jr., born 1947), released on September 6, 2019. Written and produced mainly with the jazz trumpeter Leron Thomas and the ambient guitarist Noveller, it is a quiet, jazz-inflected record of crooned vocals, spoken poetry, and ambient textures, made after Pop said he felt "drained" at the end of the tour for his 2016 album *Post Pop Depression*.[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/free/1472293248) • [2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-free/) • [3](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/the-survival-of-iggy-pop)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | September 6, 2019; 10 tracks, about 33 minutes[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/free/1472293248) • [4](https://open.spotify.com/album/7BLKzTgaj5fHkNpSPGwjwh) |
| Position in catalog | Pop's 18th solo studio album, following 2016's *Post Pop Depression*[3](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/the-survival-of-iggy-pop) |
| Principal collaborators | Leron Thomas (trumpet, keys, songwriting, production) and Noveller, the stage name of guitarist Sarah Lipstate (guitar, vocals, production)[5](https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/iggy-pop-new-york-free/) |
| Labels | ℗ 2019 Thousand Mile Inc., under exclusive license to Loma Vista Recordings in the US and Caroline International in the UK[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/free/1472293248) • [4](https://open.spotify.com/album/7BLKzTgaj5fHkNpSPGwjwh) |
| Poetic sources | Lou Reed's 1970 poem "We Are the People" and Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"[5](https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/iggy-pop-new-york-free/) • [3](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/the-survival-of-iggy-pop) |
| UK chart | Debuted at No. 26 with 2,548 first-week sales, Pop's 11th UK chart entry[6](https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/2019/Music%20Week%2009162019.pdf) |
| Style | Jazz, ambient electronics, poetry, and crooning rather than rock; Pop's contribution to the title track is the spoken line "I wanna be free"[7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/05/iggy-pop-free-review) |
## Background and conception
Pop came to *Free* after the cycle for *Post Pop Depression*, his 2016 album made with [Josh Homme](https://www.edgepedia.org/josh-homme) and Dean Fertita of Queens of the [Stone Age](https://www.edgepedia.org/stone-age) and [Arctic Monkeys](https://www.edgepedia.org/arctic-monkeys) drummer Matt Helders. In the liner notes he wrote that "this is an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice," and that he accepted this unusual arrangement because he felt "drained" when that album's tour ended.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-free/) In a statement of his own he described it as an album where he lets other artists speak for him and lends out his voice.[8](https://gaffa.se/nyheter/2019/juli/stora-nyheter-fran-iggy-pop/)
**How the collaborators were found.** Pop encountered both musicians while searching for music to play on his [BBC Radio 6 Music](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-radio-6-music) show, *Iggy Confidential*, which he had hosted since 2015. Within their music he recognized a moody elasticity that suited his introspection, and he contacted them about their work; both became his principal collaborators.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-free/) • [9](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/iggy_pop_breaks_free/) Thomas is a jazz trumpeter from Houston; Noveller is the Brooklyn-based instrumental guitarist Sarah Lipstate, credited on the album with "guitarscapes," processing her guitar with electronic effects until it no longer sounds like a guitar.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-free/) • [10](https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/neues-album-von-iggy-pop-frei-von-rock-klischees-100.html)
Pop gave the pair two poems as a lodestar for their compositions, [Lou Reed](https://www.edgepedia.org/lou-reed)'s "We Are the People" and [Dylan Thomas](https://www.edgepedia.org/dylan-thomas)'s "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," and otherwise largely performed songs handed to him. He had a hand in writing three of the tracks; most were penned by Thomas and Noveller.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-free/) • [11](https://www.allmusic.com/album/free-mw0003302874)
## Music and tracklist
The album opens with its title track, a moody, beat-less composition over which a trumpet glistens while Pop states "I wanna be free" in a matter-of-fact tone. From there the record moves through jazz, rock, electronics, dissonance, and poetry, with arrangements often kept to a minimum.[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/free/1472293248) The Guardian noted that Pop sometimes sounds less like one of rock's great frontmen than a guest with a cameo role on his own album.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/05/iggy-pop-free-review)
The full tracklist, with running times as listed by Universal Music and the streaming platforms:[12](https://www.universalmusic.it/popular-music/album/free_33334110987/) • [4](https://open.spotify.com/album/7BLKzTgaj5fHkNpSPGwjwh)
1. "Free" – 1:48
2. "Loves Missing" – 4:19
3. "Sonali" – 3:30
4. "James Bond" – 4:31
5. "Dirty Sanchez" – 4:21
6. "Glow in the Dark" – 3:57
7. "Page" – 4:08
8. "We Are the People" – 3:13
9. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" – 1:48
10. "The Dawn" – 2:08
**"Sonali"** is one of the album's most robust and complex songs, pairing atmospheric synth notes with unusually quick, off-kilter drums under Pop's soft crooning; the New York Times described it as "a rushing, fluttering, quasi-waltz that hurries toward an undisclosed destination, whimsical but driven."[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/free/1472293248) • [5](https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/iggy-pop-new-york-free/) "Loves Missing," which the New Yorker called the album's most personal piece, is a propulsive song about the value of companionship and loyalty.[3](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/the-survival-of-iggy-pop) "Dirty Sanchez," written by Thomas, is a screed against online sexuality that Pop had to be persuaded to record.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-free/)
The penultimate track is Pop reading Dylan Thomas's poem over guitar, synthesizer, and horn. The idea came after an advertising agency asked him to read the poem for a commercial voice-over; he first resisted, then read it into an iPhone, liked the result, re-recorded the vocal, and asked Thomas and Noveller to improvise around it.[3](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/the-survival-of-iggy-pop)
## Reception and commercial performance
Critical response was divided. The Guardian's reviewer called the album "a strange patchwork of jazz, poetry, ambience, lamentable lyrics and the odd pub-singer moment" that "works fitfully at best," while singling out "Loves Missing" as taut and gripping and comparing it to the Pixies with a jazz trumpeter added.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/05/iggy-pop-free-review) Pitchfork's review placed *Free* in the same lineage as *Préliminaires* (2009) and *Après* (2012), the albums where Pop returned to his jazzy arthouse inspirations, and read it as the inward, meditative counterpart to the rocker that Homme brought out.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-free/) Rolling Stone praised Pop's baritone as expressing himself "more clearly than perhaps ever before," and the Washington Post wrote that he "haunts these new songs like a dignified spirit," suggesting the album might be an exposition on death, transcendence, or both.[5](https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/iggy-pop-new-york-free/)
On the UK Official Albums Chart, *Free* debuted at No. 26 on 2,548 sales, Pop's 11th chart entry and his 18th studio album.[6](https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/2019/Music%20Week%2009162019.pdf)
## Later standing
A special "test pressing" vinyl of *Free* was later made available in 340 numbered units worldwide, signed by Pop and the artist [Maurizio Cattelan](https://www.edgepedia.org/maurizio-cattelan), with a bonus 7-inch of two unreleased tracks: Pop's a cappella rendition of "Brahms' Lullaby" and "Epistle to Tromba," an ode to a late dog.[5](https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/iggy-pop-new-york-free/) Retrospective commentary has treated the album as one pole of Pop's late-career range: Kerrang! described it as "a more somber affair, contemplating the frazzled afterglow of post-tour life," in contrast to the hard-rocking return of 2023's *Every Loser*, and one reviewer characterized *Free* as suggesting that Pop's periodic detours into after-hours jazz experimentation had become a more natural end state.[13](https://www.kerrang.com/album-review-iggy-pop-every-loser/) • [14](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-every-loser/)
## References
1. [Free – Album by Iggy Pop, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/free/1472293248)
2. [Iggy Pop: Free Album Review, Pitchfork (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, September 12, 2019)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-free/)
3. [The Survival of Iggy Pop, The New Yorker (Amanda Petrusich, September 2, 2019 issue)](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/the-survival-of-iggy-pop)
4. [Free – Album by Iggy Pop, Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/7BLKzTgaj5fHkNpSPGwjwh)
5. [Iggy Pop To Host Exclusive 'Free' Album Listening Event In New York, uDiscover Music (March 9, 2020)](https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/iggy-pop-new-york-free/)
6. [Official Albums Chart, Music Week (September 16, 2019)](https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/2019/Music%20Week%2009162019.pdf)
7. [Iggy Pop: Free review – a man of too many parts, The Guardian (Alexis Petridis, September 5, 2019)](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/05/iggy-pop-free-review)
8. [Stora nyheter från Iggy Pop, Gaffa (July 18, 2019)](https://gaffa.se/nyheter/2019/juli/stora-nyheter-fran-iggy-pop/)
9. [Iggy Pop Breaks 'Free', Exclaim! (Vish Khanna, September 12, 2019)](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/iggy_pop_breaks_free/)
10. [Neues Album von Iggy Pop – Frei von Rock-Klischees, Deutschlandfunk](https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/neues-album-von-iggy-pop-frei-von-rock-klischees-100.html)
11. [Iggy Pop: Free Tracks & Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/free-mw0003302874)
12. [Free di Iggy Pop, Universal Music Italia](https://www.universalmusic.it/popular-music/album/free_33334110987/)
13. [Album review: Iggy Pop – Every Loser, Kerrang!](https://www.kerrang.com/album-review-iggy-pop-every-loser/)
14. [Iggy Pop: Every Loser Album Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/iggy-pop-every-loser/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Experimental and avant-garde albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license